The Playstation. The name itself inspires awe. This is the console that birthed the modern age of gaming. Us hardcore gamers went from nerds to virtuosos. People who were good at games actually got a small amount of respect instead of a ton of ridicule. Go figure.In 1995 Sony released the PlayStation in the United States for $299, $100 less than expected. The sales were strong, and the launch titles like Battle Arena Toshinden and Ridge Racer made the system tower over the Saturn, 3D0, and Jaguar, which were all competing at the time. The Playstation was a phenomenon, something that drove even the most casual of gamer to run out and buy one. Meanwhile, Nintendo was showing its new console, the Ultra 64, but told software manufacturers to continue supporting the 16 bit SNES. In Japan, the Ultra 64 had a record breaking launch, but due to a virtual absence of software for the first 6 months or so, the system falls flat and never really recovers. In 1996, Sony's sales are rumored to top 12 million a day during the holiday season. This is due solely to the Playstation's outstanding and remarkable success. Ken Kutaragi's brainchild had become a real life success.

In 1998, we were blessed with the last Sega console to date, the Sega Dreamcast. This console was one of the most underrated consoles ever released. Working units still go for over 100 dollars on eBay. Part of the console's success is that fact that it will play copied games without any hardware modification at all. This also played a part in the console's demise. Sega eventually decides to throw in the towel and develop software only for all consoles. One of the smartest decisions ever made by Sega, Inc. After this it is pretty much recent history, the Playstation 2 came, and then the Xbox, the Xbox Live service being the standard for online console gaming. All this is recent gaming history and if you are old enough to read this article you are old enough to remember it for yourself. Stay tuned for my next article, entitled....